Wang Qiming’s brow was knitted tightly, his patience completely worn out.
"How many tis have I told you? Don’t push her! Don’t push her! We should’ve talked things out calmly. Well, look what happened. Is this the result you wanted?"
Li Wanqing turned to stare at Wang Qiming in disbelief. "Are you blaming ? Did I tell her to jump? Wasn’t I just trying to do what was best for her?"
"That’s just what you think! Xiao Min was an adult. Stop using ’it’s for her own good’ as an excuse to do things she hated. Weren’t you just driving her to her death?"
Li Wanqing’s eyes reddened as she pointed at Wang Qiming. "Both of you... you’re nothing but a pair of ingrates! After all the suffering I endured to raise you, who do you think I did it all for?"
With that, she began to sob.
Wang Qiming was terribly vexed and extrely worried about Wang Shumin inside. He was in no mood to deal with his mother’s emotions.
In the end, Wang Shumin didn’t make it.
The doctor shook his head. "We did everything we could. The patient suffered a massive hemorrhage of the spleen, and beyond that, she had lost the will to live."
Hearing the doctor’s words, Wang Qiming collapsed to the floor in disbelief, unable to process what had happened for a long ti.
Li Wanqing finally panicked, muttering, "How could this happen? How?"
Wang Qiming looked at the white bed where his sister lay, her eyes closed, completely still, her face stained with blood. He grabbed his sleeve and scrubbed fiercely at the blood on her temple.
Once, twice... it seed he could never wipe it clean.
Then, tears traced a path down his chin. One drop, then two, landed on Wang Shumin’s pale face.
Li Wanqing stood beside Wang Qiming, looking at the breathless body of Wang Shumin. She started to weep and rail at her, "Are you doing this to get back at ? Huh? You used to be the most obedient one! If I’d known it would co to this, I never should have let you go to the countryside! If you had just stayed obediently by my side, you wouldn’t have picked up all these bad habits or learned to defy ! Now you get to just die and be done with it, but what about us?"
As she spoke, Li Wanqing reached out and began to pound relentlessly on Wang Shumin’s body.
Then, a pair of large hands gripped her arm tightly. "Don’t touch my sister."
Li Wanqing was forcefully shoved aside by Wang Qiming. She stumbled back several steps, nearly losing her footing.
"Qiming, you—" Li Wanqing could never have imagined that the child she had doted on his entire life would dare to lay a hand on her.
Wang Qiming’s voice was flat. "Don’t touch my sister. She’s dead. Are you satisfied now? Was driving Xiao Min to suicide what you wanted? If so, congratulations. There’s finally no one left to defy you."
Li Wanqing looked at Wang Qiming, her eyes holding not just disappointnt, but a trace of panic as well. She was slowly starting to realize that this was the true revenge.
It was a dreary morning, with a light rain that wouldn’t stop, when a knock sounded on the front door.
Xue Yue went to open the door and saw Wang Qiming dressed all in black. He held no umbrella and was soaked through, his face heavy with sorrow.
Xue Yue’s brow furrowed instinctively upon seeing Wang Qiming, but his current state made her pause in surprise.
Wang Qiming looked up at Xue Yue, rain tracing paths from his hair to the corners of his eyes before dripping from his chin, making it impossible to distinguish from tears.
"I’m sorry to bother you, but today is Xiao Min’s burial. I know she was very fond of you when she was alive, so... could I ask you to co see her off?"
Xue Yue couldn’t believe what she was hearing. "You said—who’s dead?"
Wang Qiming’s eyes were dark pools. He paused. "My sister jumped off a building. The burial is today."
Xue Yue was horrified. "You’re saying Wang Shumin jumped off a building and died? What happened?"
In Xue Yue’s mory, Wang Shumin had been a cheerful, bright young woman. And she was so young... What could possibly have happened to make a person choose to end their own life?
Wang Qiming didn’t elaborate, simply giving Xue Yue the address before leaving.
Xue Yue stood at the doorway for a long ti, until He Lang ca out.
"What’s wrong? Who was that?"
Xue Yue turned her head slowly to look at He Lang. "It was Wang Qiming. He said... he said Wang Shumin jumped from a building and died. Her burial is today. He wants us to be there."
He Lang was just as stunned. He hesitated for a mont. "In that case, I won’t go to the shop today. You should go to school and ask for the day off. I’ll go find your brother and see if he’s going."
Although it was all very sudden, Xue Yue went back inside to change her clothes before heading to her school.
That morning, the group stood in the East District Cetery, holding umbrellas. They watched as Wang Qiming slowly lowered the urn into the ground, and then soone began to cover it with shovelfuls of dirt.
Xue Yue watched with complex emotions as the urn slowly disappeared from sight, eventually becoming a mound of earth under which a young life was buried.
Because Zhang Qian was heavily pregnant and it was raining, they hadn’t asked her to co. Only Xue Yue, her brother, and He Lang were present.
Wang Qiming stood at the very front, his gaze bleak. Not far from him stood another man with red, swollen eyes, crying nonstop. Xue Yue didn’t recognize him.
Looking around, they didn’t see Li Wanqing.
’Strange. Why isn’t Li Wanqing here?’
’That’s not right, not for an occasion like this.’
After a long ti, the rain still showed no sign of stopping. The sky was a hazy gray, casting a pall over everyone’s mood.
Wang Qiming walked over to them.
He bowed. "Thank you for coming to see Xiao Min off."
The three of them remained silent. Wang Qiming said no more, straightened up, and slowly walked away.
He Lang looked at Xue Yue. "We should head back, too. The rain’s getting heavier."
Xue Yue nodded, but after they had taken only a few steps, they suddenly heard crying—a desolate, mournful sound.
Xue Yue glanced back and saw it was the man from before. He had fallen to his knees on the ground, and the cries were coming from him.
After returning from the cetery, Wang Qiming began to pack his belongings.
Li Wanqing had been angry for the past several days, refusing to speak to Wang Qiming. She had thought that on the day of Wang Shumin’s burial, he would surely apologize to her and beg her to go to the cetery to see her daughter off. She was, however, disappointed.
When Wang Qiming returned, he imdiately started packing his bags. Li Wanqing saw this and felt sothing was wrong.
She walked up and grabbed Wang Qiming’s bag. "What are you doing? Are you moving out?"
Wang Qiming said nothing and continued to pack.
Li Wanqing threw the things he had just packed onto the floor and snapped, "You’re leaving, too? Are you going to abandon as well?"
Wang Qiming looked at the ss on the floor, his fists clenching.
His voice was hoarse. "Xiao Min is gone. I can’t stay in this house any longer. I’m moving into the factory dorms. From now on, you can do whatever you want."
Wang Qiming picked up his bag, stuffed the clothes from the floor back inside, and walked out with his luggage.
The front door slamd shut with a BANG, a sound that seed to strike Li Wanqing right in the heart.
She collapsed onto the sofa and, covering her face, began to weep.
After Wang Qiming left, Li Wanqing found she was completely unable to fend for herself. She didn’t know how to cook, so all she could do was buy takeout every day. But the little money she had didn’t last long. With no other choice, she went to the steel factory to find Wang Qiming.
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